The World Is Our Playground
by Trippett
Summary: Clark finds Lana has run off to Lex and decides to stop protecting his abilities, and destroys the name Clark Kent. Years later, the world’s under-attack by Brainiac, along with other Kryptonian’s. And there is only one person who can stop them. Superman.
1. Chapter 1

Title/Link: The World Is Our Playground!  
Author: Trippett  
Pairing: (Clark/Lana, Lex/Lana, Oliver/Chloe)  
Rating: PG-13  
Warnings: Mild Violence  
Spoilers: Post-Reckoning  
Short summary:

When Clark finds out Lana has run off to Lex, after the death of Jonathan, he goes off to confront them. After Lana refuses to come back to Clark due to his secrets, Clark decides to stop protecting his abilities from the rest of the world, and destroys Lex's Library, along with the name Clark Kent.

Five Years later, the world is under-attack by Milton Fine, aka Brainiac, along with a number of Kryptonian's that had found their way to earth before, during or after the destruction of Krypton.

And there is only one person who can stop them. Superman.

**Chapter One: The Fall Out**

Kent Farm

Clark sighed as he withdrew his arm from the hole he'd just made in the barn wall with his fist. He stared at it for a few seconds before turning his back on it and walking away, back into the Kent Household.

When he entered, he walked to the living area and sat down next to his Mother.

"How are you holding up, Mum?" He asked, resting his elbow's on his knees and staring at his feet.

She smiled gently, before patting him lightly on the back. "I'm okay, I guess. It's just going to be strange without your Father around..."

Clark nods. "I know." He sighed, before continuing, "I don't know what to do anymore, without him. I have two choices now; I can stay here with you and Lana, or go to the fortress and begin my training."

His Mum sighed as well. "I don't know how to tell you this, Clark, but I don't think you'd be staying around for Lana, anymore. I saw her and Lex yesterday, and they seemed...close."

Clark's eyes widened as he stared at his Mother, realizing she was serious.

"I'm sorry, Clark. It must have happened after the funeral, I didn't think you two were together anymore after the fight you two had, so I didn't say anything!" Martha stammered.

Resting his head in his hands, he closed his eyes. "I didn't think it was that bad...I thought I'd be able to fix it, like I always do!"

Martha rubbed his back some more, before asking "What are you going to do, now?"

Clark sighed, resisting the urge to cry. Running his hands through his hair, he stood up and began walking to the door. "I have to see it for myself, and if it's true, then I have to try and win her back!"

"But Clark, what about Lex?! He has Kryptonite at the mansion!" His Mum said, standing and rushing to his side.

Clark stopped just before reaching the door, thinking about her last statement. He took in a large breath, before releasing it. "At the moment; I really don't care." He said, before flinging the porch door open and marching out into the snow covered drive way.

Luthor Mansion

Clark super-sped through Smallville, and into Luthor Mansion without anyone noticing. He stopped outside Lex's library and made sure nobody was coming his way, before flicking on his x-ray vision.

Lana was in the library, alone, sitting behind Lex's desk, and by Clark's calculations; was playing Solitaire on the laptop stationed there.

He sighed quietly to himself. _So Mum was right. She is with Lex now. I have to get her back, somehow..._

He opened the door to the large room and walked in. On the outside; he strode in confidently, while on the inside he was caving in slowly to the instinct to just run away.

Lana looked up from the game she was playing and spotted Clark. She blinked in shock, before looking around. "How did you get in here?"

Clark just stood for a few minutes, staring her down.

She changed tact. "I'm here because I was handing documents over to Lex...from the Talon" she rambled, looking anywhere but at Clark.

"Don't lie to me, Lana."

Clark could see that struck a nerve, because she instantly glared at him. "Why? You lie to me!"

Clark sighed again and rubbed his eye lids. "That's for your own safety! Why do you keep fighting me on this?!"

"Because! You have a secret that you won't tell me about!"

He shook his head. 'Everyone has secrets, Lana. Because my ability to keep it, I'm just like everybody else!'

Lana shook her head furiously and pointed her finger at him. "But that's the thing Clark, you're not like everybody else, and everybody in Smallville knows it! We just don't know why!" she yelled.

"Clark's right, Lana." Came a voice to the side of them, at the other doorway into the library.

It was Lex.

"We shouldn't lie to him." He continued, "Otherwise he'll start sticking his freaky nose into places where it doesn't belong...It wouldn't be the first time."

Lana froze, staring at Lex. "What are you talking about?"

Lex laughed, before walking into the room. When he moved within 10 feet of Clark, Clark audibly gulped, as his muscles began to cramp up. Letting out a moan of pain, he staggered to find something to hold him up. He leaned heavily onto the Pool Table, and concentrated on his breathing.

Lex continued laughing, louder this time. "You see, my dear Lana...Clark here, decided to break into my Vault, on more than one occasion. By studying the tapes of these break ins, I've come to the conclusion that he's the one person who's deathly allergic to..."

He took his right hand out from his trouser pocket's and began showing off a ring, that had a large green, glowing stone in the middle of it.

"Meteor rock!" he finished, with an evil smile. "Well, I have to say that I've never seen it glow before." He added, in surprise.

Clark's face scrunched up in pain, as he lost the effort of keeping himself upright, falling onto the floor.

"Stop it, Lex!" Lana said, seeing how much pain Clark was in.

Lex just smiled and walked up to Clark, kicking him in the gut. "You need to get a few things straight, Meteor Boy!" He said, grabbing Clark by his jacket and flinging him across the floor near to the door he just entered from. "One; Never, and I repeat, never interfere with my plans again!"

He walked over to Lana, who was standing there, crying, at the sight of Clark in so much pain, and not being able to do anything about it.

"And Two; Lana and I are an Item now, so don't get in the way." Lex finished, with an air of arrogance.

"Now, I'm going to teach you the meaning of pain, Clark." He said, taking off his expensive jacket and placing it carefully on the table. He then stood up straight, and began walking towards Clark.

Clark began getting to his feet, and as Lex raised his ring hand to strike him, he surged forward and smashed his left hand against the ring, sending both Clark and Lex flying in opposite directions from a large blast of wind and light that had come from the ring and Clark's hand.

Lex got up quickly to see what happened, while Clark got up more slowly. As Clark straightened out, Lana and Lex both saw that Clark's veins were glowing green, before fading away.

Clark watched the glow disappear from his hands with a frown on his face. _What, after all this time, I've become impervious to Kryptonite! Well, talk about timing._ He thought as he looked up.

He smiled, noticing Lex's scared expression. "You really shouldn't have done that, Luthor." He said, walking a few steps forward. "That was your only weapon against me. I'll save you time and say that _was_ the only thing that could hurt me. Thanks for sorting that problem out." He shrugged, and laughed slightly.

"Do you know what it's like to do whatever you want?" Clark asked, as he looked around the library. "Of course you don't." He answered his own question. "But of course, you think you do...you're too ignorant not to, I mean, you're a Luthor, after all. What's the point of having all that money, if you can't do everything with it?"

Lex quickly recovered from his shock of the tables being turned, and ignoring Lana completely, he replied "Of course I do! I as good as own you! I own this town! This town would be nothing without me!"

Clark laughed, and shrugged. "Well, I have to say, it would be a lot quieter than it is now, and I wouldn't be in as many police investigations either..." He sighed, and turned to face Lex. "When we first met, you asked me a question. What was it?" He asked, raising his eye brows.

Lex remained quiet for a minute, thinking, before replying slowly "Do you believe a man can fly..."

Clark nodded, smiling again. "You know, when you asked that, I didn't believe it. But now, I've seen things that no other person has, I've done things no one else can do, and I've been to places where Humans can't stand!"

Lana had remained quiet throughout this exchange, but decided to interrupt. "What do you mean 'I've been to places where Humans can't stand'? It sounds like you're not including yourself in that..." She asked quietly, staring intently at Clark.

Clark nodded, and flung his hands in the air. "That's because I'm not. Do you honestly believe I could have saved the lives I have, if I was Human? I mean, I know Luthor here has had his suspicions, but this is beyond his wildest dreams..." He said, grinning all the while.

"You can't be serious!" Lana said in frustration "If you're going to lie to us, then a believable lie would be best, Clark!"

Clark shook his head, staring at Lana. "What do you think I've been keeping from you all these years, Lana? I kept you save, and away from this secret for as long as I could, because I knew Lex was after me! I had to let my own Father die, to keep you alive, and this is how you repay me! But now you've pushed, and you've finally arrived where you've wanted. Are you happy now? Because that's all I want of you...for you to be happy, no matter how many lives are in the way!" He yelled at her, all his pent up frustration from the many years of keeping his secret from her just bursting out.

"The day that never happened...That's what I'm officially calling it...The day of the election I took you to a place that is dear to me, and I proposed to you!"

"What the hell are you talking about, I think I would have remembered something like that, Clark!"

Lex shook his head. "Just ignore him, he's obviously lost his mind..." he said, staring at Clark in wonder.

Clark laughed. "I'll show you 'lost his mind'." He said, looking up and concentrating on the bookshelves on the upper level. In seconds, they were on fire, and a minute later, the whole upstairs portion of the library was ablaze.

"That's what you get for messing with a Kryptonian, Luthor!" He said, finishing off with Lex, before turning to Lana. "Oh, please, let me finish! I proposed, and you accepted. We were all happy until Luthor here, found out you knew, what he wanted to know...so, he decided to play God! He chased you down Route 40, where you got hit by a school bus...I had to speak to Jor-El, my Biological, Alien" he said, glancing at Lex, before returning his attention to Lana "father. He said if I turned back time, to the beginning of the day, someone close to me would die, and I accepted that...so when I arrived back at my loft, how did you think I felt, having you there, knowing that someone close to me was going to die, just to save the women that was breaking up with me?!" He was now yelling again.

Lana was staring at Clark, eyes wide, and in tears again, shaking her head.

"You wouldn't believe how much I've given up for you over the years...and you go throw it back in my face like that." Clark finished his rant with a sigh, but shook his head. "I love you, Lana. Yeah, that's right...I still do, after everything...but every time, something comes between us, and more likely than not, it's a Luthor."

He glanced about, noticing that the whole Library was ablaze now. As Lana and Lex looked around and noticed, too, they ran towards the door.

"Remember." Kal-El said, turning to where they stood out in the hallway. "There's nobody called Clark Kent. There never has been. You all created him, an image that never existed, but Lana _was_ what made him. With her...'unavailable'...There is only Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton left, and the World Is My Playground!" He said, before looking up at the flames that engulfed the ceiling.

Raising his right arm above his head, he lifted off and shot straight through the four remaining levels of the mansion, leaving a confused and depressed Lana, and an angry and scared Lex.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

Metropolis University****

"**You need to act now!**"****

"I will act, when I find the time is right to do so. This cannot be rushed." Said a finely dressed man, in a tone of voice that was polite, and yet had an edge to it. " Do you really think I am incapable of doing this? I am the most intellectual being on this god forsaken planet, and you and I both know it." The man finished, apparently talking to himself.

At that exact moment the door to the man's office opened and a young man appeared at the door.

"Professor Fine! Good, I haven't missed the deadline..." the student said, waving a folder at the man that was standing looking out of the window.

Milton Fine nodded slightly. "Leave it on the desk, Mr. Owen, and I'll see you in tomorrow's lesson."

The boy did as he was told and left, shutting the door softly behind him.

"**We both know that you will not be able to keep all of the others in line.**"****

"Well, as I am not from the House of El, I am going to have to keep as many in control as I can! If he does come back from his five year exile, you still have many loyal followers that will stay. Only five of them are loyal to the House of El, and as I'm sure the boy doesn't know anything about Krypton, they should know they can't be led by him. He just doesn't know our ways!"

There was complete silence, until the voice gave his command.

"**You shall proceed forward. Put out the signal.**"

The Brain InterActive Construct walked to the middle of the room and kneeled, his left kneecap hitting the marble floor with a thud.

"Your Will Is My Command. Any Kryptonian here on earth who doesn't answer the Summons of General Dru-Zod shall perish with the rest of these..._humans!_" the man said the last word with distain.

Big Ben, London, England

Milton Fine hovered above Big Ben dressed all in black, in the dead of night, so he couldn't be seen. He then proceeded to glide down until he was directly facing the Clock Tower.

Now he was visible, he needed to be quick. Flying next to the different clock hands, he tugged them off without any effort and let them drop to the ground. He then flew backwards, before using his heat vision to imprint a single symbol which took up the whole face of the clock.

Fine stared at his work for a minute, before deciding that his work here was done. Next stop; Paris.

The White House, Washington D.C

The President of the United States of America, Martha Kent was walking down the steps of the White House holding a copy of the Daily Planet, one of the only Newspapers she read, and was staring at the front page. It was safe to say, she was scared, which could be seen by the look on her face.

The tabloids reported that over a single night, most of the world's biggest monuments had been ruined. Big Ben's clock tower had been defaced, the Liberty Bell had been moved to somewhere 'a lot' more public, also defaced and the Coliseum in Rome had been treated like a crop circle; the ground defaced. But that wasn't the worst of it. Oh, no. The worst one found was the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It had been rearranged to look like the one Symbol that linked them all together. The strange thing is, no one knew what the symbol meant.

The thing that scared Martha the most was that the only monumental place that hadn't been target was the White House itself. And that is why the security had doubled.

As she finished walking down the steps, still staring at the front page, she heard a voice coming from in front of her, over the side of the veranda and on the lawns. She looked up, and what she saw made her freeze.

There were sixteen people standing on the lawns of the White House, all evenly placed out and in rows. Fifteen were dressed in black short sleeved shirts and trousers. Seven of these people were women, while the other nine were large men.

At the front, in a long leather coat was none other than Milton Fine, a Professor at Met U.

"Mr. Fine. What can I help you people with?" Martha asked, scared out of her mind but trying to be diplomatic, while wondering how on earth they got onto the grounds.

"Ah, well, Mrs. President. You could do a lot to help us. You see, we" he said, indicating the people behind him, "want the presidency in which you currently have. So, the only way I can see around this problem..."

Milton Fine trailed off as at least twenty armed guards came flooding out off hidden doors near the stairs and made a wall in front of the president, aiming their weapons on him and his companions.

He looked over to his most faithful follower, Ker-Ok, and nodded. The burly black skinned Kryptonian nodded his head in return, and disappeared before reappearing a second later.

The twenty men that were standing stock still, all of a sudden crumbled to the ground, dead.

"As I was saying..." Fine continued, "The best way to solve this problem of ours, is if you have a tragic demise."

He strolled forward at leisurely pace, before pulling out a pistol from his coat. "Well, we need to at least make it look like an accident, although it doesn't really matter much."

Before Martha could say or do anything, Milton Fine lifted the pistol, aimed and shot without any hesitation.

BANG!

At that same moment another noise was made. The noise of the ground crumbling. A figure in a blue body suit had landed on his feet, heavily impacting the earth, forcing cracks in the concrete.

The figure had landed directly in front of the president. The red cape the man was wearing bellowed in the breeze caused by his appearance, flapping hazardously off to his left. His face was angled downwards, staring at the ground on which he had landed.

The bullet which had been fired milliseconds before bounced harmlessly off of a red diamond shape on the man's chest which held a large red S in a yellow background.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Ker-Ok's Mistake!  
**  
Ten seconds of complete and utter silence.  
That was how long it took for everyone to gather their surroundings again.

Ker-Ok was the first person to jump into action. It only took that split second to reach the new player in the game to realise what a Mistake he'd made, acting first.

As soon as he was in reach, he was being held by the throat and lifted off his feet. He could feel the strangers hand tightening, and his airways blocking.

"If you promise to leave now, and never come back; you shall escape with your life, Ker-Ok." The man's strong voice boomed out clearly so everybody could hear.

Ker-Ok's eyes grew wide as the stranger somehow knew his name; which also meant he knew where they came from. He drummed up what little strength remained from being choked; and spat in the man's face.

"The Ok Family are Loyal to General Dru-Zod; not some unknown vigilante!" He spluttered, using his remaining oxygen.

As Ker-Ok was staring at the stranger, he noticed that the man's eyes darkened at the mention of their Leader, his grip tightening even more. And then nothing.

The newcomer chucked the lifeless body of Ker-Ok back to its comrades. He then walked towards the speechless Kryptonian crowd and began talking;

"I am Kal-El of Krypton; and you owe me your Allegiance!" His loud, clear voice swept over the grounds. "Whoever remains Loyal to the House of Zod shall either perish or be sent into the Phantom Zone; where traitors belong!"

It only took the name 'El' to convince six of them to change allegiances. They instantly joined Kal-El on the concrete platform.

Kal-El nodded slightly. "So be it. The card's have been dealt, Brainiac. We'll give you 168 Hours to leave...after that; we'll make you!"

Milton Fine laughed, shaking his head. "168 Hours until this World turns into a Battleground, then; Clark Kent!" He shouted back, but his voice wavered slightly. He was uneasy about how Kent had been able to defeat Ker-Ok so easily.

"On me!" He added to his remaining followers, looking over his shoulder. He then shot up into the sky, straight through the blanket of cloud; the others following his lead.

Kal-El silently watched Brainiac and the nine Kryptonian Out-Law's leave, before turning his back on the lawn. Ignoring his new allies, he went straight past them, walking to the steps; coming face to face with the President.

Martha Kent hadn't comprehended anything that had gone on in the last five minutes, because she was only paying attention to one thing; Clark. Her Clark. She rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his bulky frame.

"Oh, Clark!"

Clark returned the embrace, smiling lightly. "Hi, Mom." He whispered into her ear.

Martha backed away slightly to take in his appearance again. "What are you wearing?" She asked, "You've cut your hair...Is that Gel?!" She added as an afterthought; eyebrows raised.

He let out a small chuckle. "Yes, It's Gel, yes I've cut my hair, and I'm wearing a Kryptonian Suit." He responded in reverse order.

"Oh, my. You look so...huge!"

"I'll take that as a compliment." He quipped, glancing around them.

"Why are you wearing a Cape?" Martha asked, running her hand down it while he'd turned around briefly.

"My idea. I thought it would look...swishy. And it does!" He beamed.

"I can't believe your back, Clark. So much has changed since you left..."

"Does that include the attention the Secret Service pay to the President?" He asked, looking at her.

"Looks like it. It's never been a problem until now; there hasn't been any threats against me, before."

Clark nodded, "Ok, stay put." He told her, before turning his attention to the Kryptonian's.

"Da-Te, Shor-Te, Loth-Van, Vor-Eee, Tres-Zor, Cren-Bur." He addressed each of them in turn. "On behalf of my Father, and the House of El; I thank you for taking up arms against General Dru-Zod."

Loth-Van came forward and brought his right fist up to his heart in a Kryptonian Salute. "The Army may have been Loyal to the House of Zod, but the People have _always _been Loyal to the House of El; Commander."

Clark slipped into Kal-El mode again and signalled off the Salute with one of his own. "As it should be." He stated. "Fly over Northern Greenland. You'll come across The Fortress of Knowledge; My Father and Raya shall meet you there." He finished, addressing all of them again with a curt nod.

"Yes, Commander." Came six, synchronised responses, before they all took off into the sky.


End file.
